Morphology, Ontogeny, and Molecular Phylogeny of Two Freshwater Species of Deviata (Ciliophora, Hypotrichia) from Southern China

The morphology and partial morphogenesis of two freshwater hypotrichous ciliates, Deviata brasiliensis Siqueira-Castro et al., 2009 and Deviata rositae Kuuppers et al., 2007, isolated from southern China, were investigated using live observation and protargol staining. Our populations resemble the original ones in terms of their live characters and ciliary patterns. The main determinable morphogenetic features of D. brasiliensis basically correspond with those of the type population. However, the origin of anlage V for either proter or opisthe is ambiguous: whether anlage V for the proter originates from parental frontoventral row 2 (the same as in the original population) or parental frontoventral row 3 (the same as in Deviata abbrevescens) or even de novo is not clear; the anlage V for the opisthe is possibly derived from frontoventral row 3 and further migrates to frontoventral row 2, like that in D. abbrevescens. In addition, the SSU rRNA gene was first sequenced for both species. Molecular phylogenetic analyses suggest that the genus Deviata is non-monophyletic and has a close relationship with Perisincirra paucicirrata.